Tried them before. They work most of the time but I found that with the hook mostly laying on it's side it hit sharp objects easier and got stuck more than the weedless that I use where the hook is straight up with the retrieve leaving the head to bounce on bottom and have the hook more up out of the way of shell and rocks.Been making my own with 50 lb test line for guards on standard store jig heads since I tie my on flies mostly. I try to make a few before the flounder run to have in case I hit an area with flounder but always hanging up. I mostly tie them to be compatible with Gulp shrimp and grubs.

kickingback wrote:Tried them before. They work most of the time but I found that with the hook mostly laying on it's side it hit sharp objects easier and got stuck more than the weedless that I use where the hook is straight up with the retrieve leaving the head to bounce on bottom and have the hook more up out of the way of shell and rocks.Been making my own with 50 lb test line for guards on standard store jig heads since I tie my on flies mostly. I try to make a few before the flounder run to have in case I hit an area with flounder but always hanging up. I mostly tie them to be compatible with Gulp shrimp and grubs.

I was skeptical about the "weedless" aspect and figured it would need an little extra oomph, because sideways hook is going to snag everything.

Oh well I'll use em till I lose em

Mind sharing how you tie weed guards? I've got 70lb mono line I use for my surf fishing rigs which I'd guess would also work.

Weedless for flounder really means snag-less, as you are usually not fishing grass, but instead fishing areas with scattered rocks, & debris. There are two ways I go when it comes to flounder fishing with lures.

One is a EWG weighted swim-bait hook rigged with a Gulp! Swimming Mullet. These have the screw wire to attach into the nose of the bait and then the hook goes through the body near the tail and stays snug to the top of the body, pretty weedless or snag-less.

The other for me is the Buggs brand Bonefish Jig Heads. Put a Gulp! Swimming Mullet on one of those jigheads and it will be much more likely to sit on the bottom upright than on its side.

I like the TSL Grasswalker for heavy shell. Just wish Tobin would modify it and make a "Jr" that is just a tiny bit smaller but with the same weight with a curl tail or double curl tail for flounder. He could call it TSL GW Jr' I'd buy a bunch of em!

What is the supposed or actual advantage to having the hook off to the side like with the Billy bay? Is the idea to hook the fish in the corner of the mouth?

Size 2 and 4 hooks that I use to tie on seem to be better than the standard push on bass assassin lead head jigs at hooking and keeping flounder hooked all the way to and into the net. That's been my experience. The patterns I’ve gotten flounder on all ride hook point up like a jig.

I’ve mostly stopped using weed guards on the patterns I assemble. Seems like in heavy, live shell, nothing including weed guards are going to prevent hanging up other than having the right pace on the retrieve or making an accurate cast to begin with. Heavy, bullet proof weed guards on flies might save on some hang ups, but then they tend to interfere with hook sets, that’s been my experience. I do always carry a few weed guarded things in the box sort of as a last resort, it’s nice to have options.

I love fishing around, next to, and sometimes over oyster reef and shell for fish including flounder. I just live with the occasional hang up. Some reefs are worse than others for snagging lures and flies. The people I fish with that throw soft plastics on jig heads get hung up too on occasion. But, I don’t know about that Billy Bay jig head with the hook off to the side, that does appear to be a guaranteed shell grabber. I know any pattern that rides hook point down and sinks is terrible around shallow reef. Those types like deceivers have about zero chance of not getting hung up.

Since getting into fly tying, I’ve become even more selective towards hooks and how a pattern rides in the water, so something different like the Billy bay is interesting to me. Many want to build a better mouse trap or fish catcher, nothing wrong with that. It should be easy enough to weight a fly pattern to swim with the hook point off to the side, but I’m not clear why I would or should do it that way.